In 1968, Quebec essayist Jean Le Moyne conducted and filmed an interview with French philosopher Gilbert Simondon on the topic of mechanology, or the “science of machines.” Working for the National Film Board of Canada, Le Moyne envisioned using the filmed interview as part of a larger intellectual and artistic project to educate Canadians about modern machines. Like Simondon, he shared an interest in new kinds of philosophical pedagogy about machines. Ultimately, however, neither the filmed interview nor Le Moyne’s project received support from the NFB. By recovering the failed Entretien mécanologique project, this article sheds light on an intellectual experiment that sought to explore philosophy through film, while also addressing the context for the NFB’s resistance to Le Moyne’s project.

We are very please to announce that our essay, “Understanding Machines: A History of Canadian Mechanology,” will be published in an upcoming issue of the Canadian Journal of Communication. Click here for the abstract.

http://mecanologie.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Screen-Shot-2017-03-22-at-9.27.51-PM.png2001009Ghislain Thibaulthttp://mecanologie.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/mecanologie-logo.pngGhislain Thibault2017-03-23 03:34:052018-05-04 14:41:48Understanding Machines: A History of Canadian Mechanology

This is the text of the presentation that I gave last year at the Media Art History conference in Montreal about John Hart, Mechanology and failure. It was presented as part of a panel with Ghislain Thibaul, Monika Kin Gagnon and Alison Reiko Loader about Archiving Failure.

Born in Montréal in 1913, Le Moyne had settled a solid reputation as writer over the years: he participated in the 1930s to the creation of a political monthly publication named La Relève, then worked for influential Canadian media, including La Presse, Le Canada, La Presse Canadienne, Radio-Canada and the National Film Board…

There are several ways through which the mechanologists engaged with the production of visual material in the 1960s and 1970s. Philosopher of technology Gilbert Simondon was a notorious draughtsman and he accompanied much of his theories by hand-drawn sketches.